Learning objectives
By the end of this lesson, you should be able to explain the main rules, identify the target forms in real sentences, avoid common errors and apply the rules to unfamiliar examples.
- Understand the core terms and distinctions.
- Study examples in context rather than memorising isolated rules.
- Complete the practice before opening the answer key.
1. What is a pronoun?
A pronoun can stand in for a noun phrase or refer to people, things, quantities or ideas. It helps avoid unnecessary repetition, but its reference must be clear.
Pronouns are not simply interchangeable: their form depends on grammatical role, number, person and sometimes gender or formality.
2. Main pronoun groups
| Group | Examples | Typical use |
|---|---|---|
| Personal | I, me, we, us, he, him, she, her, they, them | Refer to participants or things. |
| Possessive | mine, yours, his, hers, ours, theirs | Show ownership without a following noun. |
| Reflexive / emphatic | myself, yourself, herself, themselves | Reflexive: object refers back to subject; emphatic: adds emphasis. |
| Demonstrative | this, that, these, those | Point to people or things. |
| Interrogative | who, whom, whose, what, which | Ask questions. |
| Relative | who, whom, whose, which, that | Introduce a relative clause. |
| Indefinite | someone, anybody, each, few, many, none | Refer non-specifically or to quantity. |
Words such as my, your, this and some can function as determiners when they accompany a noun; they function pronominally when they stand alone. Labels may vary among textbooks.
3. Subject and object forms
Use subject forms as subjects and object forms as objects of verbs or prepositions.
| Subject | Object | Possessive determiner | Possessive pronoun |
|---|---|---|---|
| I | me | my | mine |
| he | him | his | his |
| she | her | her | hers |
| we | us | our | ours |
| they | them | their | theirs |
Correct: “Rina and I completed the task.” (Subject.)
Test a compound phrase by removing the other person: “The teacher spoke to me,” not “to I.”
4. Reflexive pronouns and agreement
Use a reflexive pronoun when the subject and object refer to the same person or thing: He blamed himself. Do not use a reflexive form simply to sound formal.
- Correct: I made it myself. (Emphasis.)
- Correct: They introduced themselves. (Reflexive meaning.)
- Usually incorrect: Please contact myself. Better: Please contact me.
Indefinite pronouns such as everyone, somebody, each and either usually take singular agreement in formal standard English: “Everyone has a seat.” Singular they is widely used for a person whose gender is unknown or irrelevant: “Everyone should bring their ID.”
5. Relative pronouns and clear reference
Who usually refers to people as a subject; whom is the formal object form; whose shows possession; which commonly refers to things; that can introduce defining clauses about people or things.
“The student whom I praised smiled.” (whom = object of praised; who is also common in everyday use)
“The phone that I bought works well.”
A pronoun should have an identifiable antecedent. “When Rafi spoke to Karim, he was upset” is ambiguous because he could refer to either person. Rewrite it to make the meaning explicit.
Guided practice
Try each item first. Then open the answer key and read the explanation for any answer you missed.
- Choose the subject form: ___ and I went home. (He / Him)
- Choose the object form: The coach called Sara and ___. (I / me)
- Complete: This book is ___. (my / mine)
- Choose the reflexive pronoun: She taught ___ to play chess.
- Which is standard: Everyone has / Everyone have a ticket?
- Complete: The woman ___ lives next door is a doctor.
- Which pronoun shows possession: whose / who's?
- Correct: “Please send the file to myself.”
- Choose: The children packed ___ bags. (their / theirs)
- In “Those are expensive,” what type of word is those?
- Choose a suitable relative pronoun: The book ___ I borrowed is useful.
- Is “Rina and I” or “Rina and me” the subject of “Rina and ___ arrived early”?
- What is wrong with “When Mina met Rupa, she smiled” if context is absent?
- Complete: Each of the players ___ ready. (is / are)
- Choose: The person to ___ I spoke was helpful. (who / whom)
Show answer key and explanations
- He — The pronoun is part of the compound subject.
- me — The phrase is the object of called.
- mine — Mine stands alone; my normally precedes a noun.
- herself — The subject and object refer to the same person.
- Everyone has a ticket. — Everyone is grammatically singular in standard agreement.
- who — Who is the subject of lives and refers to a person.
- whose — Whose is possessive; who's means who is or who has.
- Please send the file to me. — Use the object pronoun me; no reflexive relationship is present.
- their — Their is a determiner before the noun bags.
- Demonstrative pronoun — It stands alone and points to items.
- that / which — Both can introduce a defining relative clause referring to a thing.
- Rina and I — The pronoun is a subject of arrived.
- The reference of she may be ambiguous. — The reader cannot know which person smiled without more context.
- is — Each is singular in this construction.
- whom (formal); who is common informally — The pronoun is the object of the preposition to.
Revision checklist
- I can explain the main rule in my own words.
- I can identify the target form in a sentence.
- I can explain why a common incorrect example is wrong.
- I can apply the rule in a new sentence.
Do not judge mastery only by a score. If an answer was wrong, identify the rule behind the mistake and practise that pattern again.
Continue learning
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